A SMALL BUT MEMORABLE WAYSIDE RARITY. WHITE POPPIES!

It was June summertime SICILY 2004. And as sometimes happens (although relatively rarely) the rain was really lashing down. It was absolutely torrential rain. And for the first time ever in my life I'd seen some wayside white poppies from aboard a coach the day before.

So next day I went back on foot. I found the spot OK as I knew the road (Strada Statale117) and had made a mental note of it.  Before I quite reached the location to make matters even more traumatic a patrolling countryside CARABINIERI vehicle's custodians (probably bored out of their cocky peaked caps) decided to stop me thereabouts in the absolutely teeming rain to check my I.D. etc.,  I was very very far from endeared as I stood there getting absolutely soaked to the skin. Anyway I disappointed them and proved not to be the biggest criminal since THE GODFATHER!  For my satirical take on the Italian CRABINIERIE click HERE. 

Anyway I eventually got on my way again and took shelter for a while. And then walked on and hey presto I came upon the only WHITE POPPIES I have ever seen - as shown below.

CLICK CLICK on images to helpfully increase their VISIBILITY! 

They were along the NICOSIA road northwards en route to BIVIO CAPIZZI and CESARO or MISTRETTA. On the left hand side of the road about a kilometer or so beyond NICOSIA's CEMETARY. Over the years betwixt the MADONIE and NEBRODI mountains I had trudged this road backwards and forwards a few times - nice countryside. And several times I had holed up for BED AND BREAKFAST at LA VIGNETTA MOTEL at Porte Portelle - usually I stopped therein when well into my annual holiday and when in dire need of a good wash and the luxury of a civilized bed for a night or two.

Along this road - there was also an old CAVE I had discovered and I had also stayed therein overnight a few times - when the weather was unsettled and rainy wet. My next blog spot will feature my "CAVE MAN" stopovers. In fact I got to know and remember certain passing small locations along the various roads so that when the weather was unsettled I'd head thereto to take shelter until the weather had re-settled.  More in passing about these locations in my CAVE MAN blog spot - HERE.

For a full chronological list of all SICILY ABLAZE page titles click HERE. 

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For a full A to Z indexed NEBRODI  REGION locations map click HERE.   

“ARSENAL, CHELSEA, TOTTENHAM, NOTTINGHAM FOREST!” NEBRODI 1990 CONTADINO FOOTBALL ENTHUSIAST.

September 1990 and I’d left the MONTE MALLARO “DESERTED COTTAGE”. Heading on foot towards FLORESTA eventually by way of PORTELLA MITTA I was passing through a beautiful open landscapes area with very very many grazing animals. I had covered about 2 kilometers of the journey from the DESERTED COTTAGE  pasture when I chanced upon this shepherd. We spoke – he hadn’t expected to encounter a lone South Londoner and although I did not expect him to speak English I did get a truly amazing surprise which I noted and have always remembered. When he realized my nationality he almost immediately blurted out with very energetic enthusiastic good humour

“ARSENAL, CHELSEA,

TOTTENHAM, 

NOTTINGHAM FOREST!”.

That was his sole English – and I absolutely do not mention this limitation grudgingly – absolutely not – it was a really lovely unexpected moment. Doubly so because I had never had any interest in football but notwithstanding this our exchange and meeting was really lovely.

CLICK on photo to increase its visibility and his contadino football enthusiasm!!

He'd be pretty elderly now and I certainly still hope
he’s doing OK in that really beautiful area of
the NEBRODI MOUNTAINS REGION.

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MONTE MALLARO. DESERTED COTTAGE WITH BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" - he wonders

                                     

COTTAGE is encircled in red. 

COTTAGE again encircled in RED.

CLICK on images to enlarge and very much more fully enjoy.

 This DESERTED COTTAGE cottage in the MONTE MALLARO area of the Nebrodi Mountains regional parkland is about 4 hours walk from Sicily's highest village FLORESTA.  It’s a pretty beautiful walk through quite variable peaceful scenery - up hill down hill etcetera etcetera. Really nice.

From FLORESTA one heads north for PORTELLA MITTA then its westward sharp left on along the quiet mountain roads – through lovely varying scenery and very many grazing animals along the way. The last kilometer or so takes you down and down a steeply winding narrow track which at times is almost totally shaded overhead by arching trees and although a narrow space there were sometimes cows sat in the shade there who were quite at ease as you passed. In the early years there were no reliable maps for this particular location/ area - one had to rely on a compass and in this way this location was just by chance visited.

Eventually you suddenly arrived at wide open beautiful pastures and the slowly dilapidating deserted cottage. I made my last visit there two years ago - HERE - alas that will be my last as there had been pretty serious landslides along the above mentioned steep final 2 kilometer stretch which has made passage very dangerous - and if you came a cropper there-abouts you could end up there for the rest of eternity.

Anyway during my 25 years of Sicily walking sojourns I visited the DESERTED COTTAGE as I have labeled it on a number of lovely occasions sometimes staying put in very great peace for a few days or so - there were one or two occasions when I arrived at the cottage from a reverse direction – down down down the steep tracks and across pastures and small watercourses from also very beautiful BOSCO MANGALAVITI - on these occasions I would have legged it from PORTELLA FEMMINA MORTA or even CESARO via LAGO MAULAZZO and BIVIERE DI CESARO. Such fantastic exhilarating excursions.

Above and below - having a good back scratch
on 3 ultra reliable trees! 

Well, the above animal photographs were all taken in the immediate vicinity of the ultra peaceful deserted MONTE MALLARO cottage pastures. What truly beautiful majestic animals they were. Sometimes there were one or two horses also and just occasionally grouting wild CINGHIALI boars - as pictured immediately above. Sometimes a local Contadini would show up - amazed to come across some South London solo cockney at such an outlandish location. There were often many animals here - these selected photos are of a more individual nature. Really really memorable and always a location to greatly enjoy very much in anticipation returning to. 

On one occasion as shown in an above photo I left in-situ on an abandoned old cooking pan bottom one of my poems and (see below) I also carved my "I.C" initials on one of the nearby cottage trees.  When I most recently saw the small carving (two years ago) it was largely overgrown due to the passage of time. Alas rather like my ageing leg muscles too!

September 1990 - I'd just arrived down from
Bosco Mangalavitti.  He was present and was surprised and 
did not expect to see me. And his dogs asked him
"Padrone you gonna shoot him?" 

and he smiled and said "Oh no!"

The above IMAGE  PLAN provides annotated locations details along the route to the 
MONTE MALLARO location en route to and from PORTELLA MITTA.  
CLICK on image to increase its size and visibility. 


For a full chronological list of all SICILY ABLAZE page titles click HERE. 

For a full A to Z indexed MADONIE REGION locations map click HERE. 

For a full A to Z indexed NEBRODI  REGION locations map click HERE.    

MADONIE SOTTO LE STELLE "RAFFO PROJECT LUNA" 2012

 Here you have the a view of RAFFO VILLAGE 

nestling beneath the local mountainside. 

Here you have a shot of the central 

RAFFO VILLAGE LUNA PROJECT OBSERVATION POST.
CLICK on the above images to greatly increase their detail.

This LUNA PROJECT RAFFO "sotto the stelle" was begun in 2012 and is set to continue 24 / 7 through-out 2013 and possibly for even longer.  The RAFFO observer shown in the photograph is facing towards the nearby high mountainside above which the moon very often very massively and really beautifully rises. And in the very far distance on the right hand hillside ridge can just be seen a row of small dwellings originating from the MUSSOLINI era.  MADONIE SOTTO LE STELLE is certainly an intriguing place.  There is far more to RAFFO than a very large SALT MINE and various very enjoyable summer festivals.  If you visit Sicily and the MADONIE GEOPARK make an excursion to RAFFO.  
Reminder - there IS more to Sicily
than CORLEONE and the MAFIA.

This photo shows local "Madonie Sotto Le Stelle" 
enthusiasts in session in August 2012.
These folk are into "life changing experiences" -
their phraseology.
CLICK on it to enlarge and inspect. 
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For a full chronological list of all SICILY ABLAZE page titles click HERE. 

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HUNDREDS STRONG 2001 SUMMER SICILIAN CAMEL TRAIN.

"GANGI" CAMEL TRAIN.

"BIVIO GERACI" CAMEL TRAIN.

"FLORESTA" AND "CESARO" CAMEL TRAINS. 

"PETRALIA SOTTANA" AND "PETRALIA SOPRANA" CAMEL TRAIN.  

"TROINA, NICOSIA" AND "BIVIO GERACI" CAMEL TRAIN. 

CLICK ON IMAGES TO INCREASE THEIR VISIBILTY.

Over the 26 years of my tramping solo on foot along the lovely Sicilian Madonie and Nebrodi roads and other various exploratory itineraries I’ve often collected items of verge side ephemera. Some items I’ve kept and while en route have also made with certain items postcards to mail home to friends and family relations. I suddenly decided very memorably in 2001 when initially setting out on foot towards GANGI from BIVIO GERACI that although a life long non smoker throughout that summers trip I would collect all the verge side illustrated discarded CAMEL cigarette packets.

By the end of the holiday I  had several hundred. This became slightly more complicated because during the holiday I also happened to decide – after scrutinizing the CAMEL packet images - to cut out and separately save the small actual CAMEL images and also the MOSQUES. This was quite a task. It required quite careful pain staking use of small scissors. These cut-outs which still actually exist here in London are light heartedly displayed in groups as tho' forming representative CAMEL TRAIN images of the villages and other townships through which I’d hiked.

There sure cant be many - if any - other such SICILIAN CAMEL TRAINS in other locations. And nowadays the CAMEL CIGARETTE  packet illustrations are nothing like so visually fulsome. What you see above is only a small selection of my homely memorable post 2001 Sicily holidays CAMEL TRAIN display. It/s just a small eccentric evidence of my greatly enjoyed Sicily along the roads walking holidays.

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For a full chronological list of all SICILY ABLAZE page titles click HERE. 

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"CHEESUS IS COME" TO CAPIZZI

"CHEESUS" gets the CAPIZZI treatment.  

You have to be pazzo to join the NEBRODI CAPIZZI throng 

and obviously its obviously deemed a "blessing" if you are.
However very fortunately this is NOT and never will be
my own particular brand of "loopiness".

For a full chronological list of all SICILY ABLAZE page titles click HERE. 

For a full A to Z indexed MADONIE REGION locations map click HERE. 

For a full A to Z indexed NEBRODI  REGION locations map click HERE.    

BRAVO FOR PETRALIA SOTTANA "TOP SHOP". CORSO P. AGLIATA. 39.

The ultra disgusting Public Toilets of Petralia Sottana – HERE - stand and stink in stark contrast to PETRALIA's extremely heartening main street (CORSO P. AGLIATA) shop at No. 39!

The shop proprietor is GIUSEPPE INGUAGGIATO and this outlet easily deserves PETRALIA SOTTANA's "TOP SHOP” award – if one were to be awarded – for its fantastically heartening array of displayed hardware, tools and working implements and very very many other ultra useful items. 

Nowadays you would never find such an amazing hardware shop outlet in the London area. Like Madonnuzza is becoming LONDON has already deteriorated into a EUROSPIN style supermarket desert and heartening hardware outlets are almost no more. This PETRALIA SOTTANA outlet in addition to its immense display of objects also has available at least 2 catalogues from which additional choices can be made.

The above images do not at all adequately convey how amazing No.39 Agliata is – apologies for this. If you visit Petralia Sottana don’t miss an opportunity to browse No. 39 for yourself. No superficial tourist trinklets trivia outlet this one - that’s for sure.

Any visitor to PETRALIA SOTTANA shouldn’t neglect to visit and peruse this very very fine hardware outlet. 

Bravo No. 39 Corso P Agliata!

For a full chronological list of all SICILY ABLAZE page titles click HERE. 

For a full A to Z indexed MADONIE REGION locations map click HERE. 

For a full A to Z indexed NEBRODI  REGION locations map click HERE.